Jim Woodruff, MD is a Professor with the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, the Associate Dean of Students and Vice Chair for Education. He joined the Provident Foundation in 2014

Why did you get involved with the Provident Foundation?
I was drawn to this role because I’ve been interested in care for the underserved ever since I was in medical school. I worked a portion of my medical school career at Harlem Hospital in New York City. 1991 and ’92 were the peak of the HIV epidemic, and New York was facing difficult times financially and didn’t have the resources at that municipal hospital to provide good care. But despite that, I saw a number of young physicians there, many of them young African American physicians, who had trained at outstanding medical schools across the country and could have simply pursued either lucrative or successful private practice or academic careers, ignoring what was going on in Harlem, but they chose to invest five years or so of their lives working in Harlem trying to address the acute needs of the neighborhood. I found these young physicians inspiring and wanted to go to an academic medical center that could provide me both the opportunity to pursue an academic career and take care of underserved patient populations. It turned out that the University of Chicago was an ideal location.

Eric Madu, a senior at Chicago State University who will be graduating this December, was awarded a $3,000 scholarship in the Spring of 2016. He plans to attend medical school after graduation and is currently studying to take the MCAT exam this month. Eric studies molecular biology and has won several awards and presented his research across the state of Illinois and in the Philippines.

Since becoming a scholar, Eric has been mentored by Provident Foundation board members Dr. Jim Woodruff, Associate Dean of Students at the University of Chicago and Dr. Abdullah Pratt, medical resident at The University of Chicago.

Our Legacy, Our Future

In 1891, the Provident Hospital and Training School opened its doors to African American doctors, nurses, and patients who experienced closed doors elsewhere. The care received at Provident was second to none and its history of excellence, commitment and equality has an impact on Chicago and the nation that is longstanding.

The Provident Foundation was established in 1995 by James Myles and Edward Gardner to preserve the legacy of Provident Hospital and its founder, Dr. Daniel Hale Williams, by promoting education for and providing scholarship opportunities to urban youth pursuing careers in medicine. We feel this is critical to ultimately transforming the health of our communities.

For example, African American medical students are more than twice as likely as white students to express the intention to work in high-poverty, minority communities. However, only 6% of medical school graduates are African American despite accounting for 12% of the population. Furthermore, only 8.5% of medical school graduates are Hispanic relative to more than 17% of the population.

The story of Provident is rich and inspiring; one that instills hope and possibility for our future. View our latest video to experience more of this remarkable story and consider a gift to the Provident Foundation to continue this legacy.

Our goal is to raise $10,000 to support our scholarship fund by the end of this year. Collectively, we can catalyze change and transform the health of our communities.